The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1887-06-22

lauIlCueV III lne Lyme, anu tHc
heaviest vessel in the world, con-
siderable interest was taken in the
proceedings. A distinguished COM
pany assembled on reserved plat
form to witness the proceedings,
other parts of the extensive yard,
the opposite side of the river, and
number of steamboats, being occu-
pied by crowds numbering certainly
not less than from 100000 to 1907
900 persons.
After the launch o select COM
pany assembled in the refreshment
room.
Sir William G. Armstrong, in pro-
posing "Success to the Victoria"
said: 81 am about to propose
toast, but before do so / will take
the present opportunity of making
some remarks concerning the Vic
toria and war ships in general. This
is not fitting occasion for me to
criticise the policy of strengthening
our feet by the addition of great
armor-clads rather than by the addi-
ton of swift cruisers of the pro-
tected class. l have said enough ON
this subject on many former occa-
sions, and l will now only observe
that / am glad to see that our Adj
miralty are disposed to slacken their
expenditure on these gigantic ships,
in response to similar action on the
part of other maritime Powers, and
that they are expanding their oper-
atoms in the building of swift
cruisers. I maintain, as l have
always done, that the country re-
quires, above all things, a numerous
fleet of swift cruisers, not extempor-
lied out of merchant or passenger
ships, hut specially bnilt and adapt
ed for the protection of the wide
spread commerce upon which our
very existence depends, and for aid
ing in the defence of our colonies,
which, l trust, will every year draw
closer to the mother country. But
what L chiefly wish to do on this
occasion is to direct your attention
to the marvellous transformation
which has taken place within the
last forty years in our ships of war
and their ornaments, and in the
enormous increase of efficiency which
has been attained thereby.
"In an aesthetic point of view, it
must be confessed that our ships
have sadly deteriorated. No more
beautiful object could be seen than
a great man-of-war of the old type
under press of sail. Poets and
painters have delighted in depicting
it; but the engineer appreciates
power more than beauty, and while
Ruskin would stigmatize modern
war ship as devil ship, the engi-
neer regards it as splendid tri-
umph of mechanical skill. For the
purpose of comparison between the
ships of the old sort and the new, l
can take no more fitting examples
than the Victory and Victoria, so
like in name and yet so different in
all things else. The Victory, l need
scarcely say, was the famous battle
ship in which Nelson fought and
died. She was one of the largest
ships of her day, but her displace-
mcnt or total weight, with every
thing ON board, was only $500 tons,
while the displacement of the Vic
toria will be $500 tons. The Vic
tory, in accordance with the usage
of the time, was built of oak; the
Victoria, in accordance with present
practice, is built of iron. The Vic
tory was propelled by wind, over
which man has no control; the Vic
toria will be propelled by steam,
over which man has perfect mastery.
The Victory had the character of
being an extraordinary quick sailer,
and when the wind happened to be
exceptionally propitious she could
attain speed of nearly thirteen
knots an hour. The Victoria, pro-
PEELED by engines of more than l2,-
900 horse power, may be expected
to achieve about seventeen knots an
hour.
SIN regard to armament, tha
comparison in favor of the Victoria
is astounding, and ought to open
the eyes of those who are in the
habit of disparaging the progress of
artillery in this country. The arma-
ment of the Victory as she fought at
Trafalgar consisted of thirty 32-
Founders, thirty 24-pounders, forty
l2-pounders, and two GS-pounder
carronades, making in all l02 guns.
The heaviest of these guns was I'M
der three tons, while the heaviest on
board the Victoria Is ITO tons, Tho
largest charge of powder used In the
Victory was s pounds, while the
largest charge to be used in the
Victoria will be 900 pounds. The
heaviest shot used in the Victory
was 6S pounds, while in the Victoria
it will he 300 pounds. The weight
of metal discharged from the broad
side of the Victory was 1850
pounds, against ALSO pounds from
that of the Victoria. But the power
of the broadside discharge from each
ship is better indicated by the guam
tity of powder expended than by
the weight of the metal discharged,
and while the broadside fire from
the Victory consumed ONLY 1926